Joe didn't listen, look, or stopSo they dragged his car into the shop.It only took a week or twoTo make Joe's car as good as new.But though they looked high and low,They could find no spare partsFor Joe.

Having said that, I can't help but recall that the late Bill Mauldin, in his book "Coming Home," which was about his experiences becoming a civilian after WW II. Along with other things, he had a whole chapter on driving in America around 1946-1947.

In that chapter, he recounted some comments about a pilot who was convinced driving licenses should be tougher to get than pilots' licenses. As the pilot put it, takeoffs and landings required considerable skill, but once in the air, you didn't have much to do except check your gauges and occasionally correct your course. In addition to that, you were normally well away from any other traffic, and if something else was near, you had the whole sky to move around in.

By contrast, in an automobile, you were in close proximity to plenty of other traffic coming at high closing speeds in a constrained lane, you were constantly watching out for this traffic by moving your head continuously, and you were constantly changing direction and speed in a manner that required that head plus both hands and feet.

Truthfully, his description of driving sounds like flying a fighter plane in combat!

Maybe that's the attitude we should all have while driving to stay alive!

That and mandatory full retesting at renewal time!

Dougvv

Post subject: Re: Grade Crossing Incident with Reading & Northern 425

Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:49 pm

Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:52 pmPosts: 909

Hi,

I was working for a company in Atlanta, GA and had to commute to Pleasant Valley, NY (manufacturing) once a month from 1995-1997.

I was able to show them that riding Amtrak with a sleeper was cheaper than flying full fair.

On one return trip from New York (Poughkeepsie) back to Atlanta, we were running on time in Georgia about to get home when the train slowed to an unexpected stop between Lula and Camilla. There is a road along the railroad most of the way between the two towns.

As it turned out, the train was stopped because of hit a vehicle (it was such a twisted mess that I did not know if it was a car or a puck-up) at a dirt road crossing. The driver (who died) was lived back on the dirt road for many years and used the crossing daily. He was apparently distracted and drove out in front of the Amtrak train and it basically shut down Norfolk-Southern (ex-Southern) for several hours. He died on the scene and so the County coroner had to be called out.

It is very important to keep tabs on you driving and not text message or talk on a cell phone. Otherwise you might see what you expect (no obstructions) than what is actually there.

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